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There are great Aikido schools throughout Japan. It would seem best to choose an area, a city, a region where you could live comfortably and then find the right dojo there. Personally I think I would look closely at Kyoto. Not only are there terrific Aikido dojo there, Kyoto is a magnificent city, both modern and historical. There could easily be a hundred similar comments from other members of AikiWeb detailing different locations and dojo.

I came to Japan a number of years ago with no idea of what the 'best' aikido was, but I thought I should start by finding teachers who trained with Osensei. So, I went to Osensei's dojo in former Iwama Town, present day Kasama City, Ibaraki, which at that time was headed by Isoyama Shihan (who remains executive advisor). A few years down the line and I'm still here. I'd highly recommend it.

My original second choice would have been the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, but in recent years, Waka Sensei took over as dojo-head in Iwama, so we get to train with him (or a substitute) once per week and Doshu on Saturdays. We essentially get the best of both worlds.